WASHINGTON.— Caught in the maelstrom of the Sandinista revolution in his native Nicaragua in the 1970s, Manuel Orozco discovered his interest in politics and development issues not in a classroom but in a lined notebook where he scribbled poetry.
The then poet's apprentice is now an expert in the United States on remittances and development strategies that have helped hundreds of thousands of people.
Orozco took the reins in August as director of the Center for Migration and Economic Stabilization of the Creative Associates International group, which promotes international development programs.
But his work as a social researcher dates back to the early 1990s, when few politicians were interested in the issue of remittances.
In a telephone interview with Noticias Telemundo, on the occasion of Hispanic Heritage Month, Orozco explained how his adolescence during the civil war in Nicaragua and his exodus, first to Costa Rica, and then to the United States, have influenced his social work.
“One of the first things I learned is that when there is a pacification process, one of the ways in which diasporas show their sense of belonging is by reconnecting with their countries through remittances," he explained, "I wrote a book because in those days nobody talked about it, but it became a subject of great political interest ”.
Manuel Orozco, an expert on remittances and development issues, dedicates all his free time to his three children, two of whom inherited his love of poetry.Photo courtesy of Manuel Orozco / Noticias Telemundo
The power of remittances
Remittances are just one of the variables of the impact of immigrants in their countries of origin: they become entrepreneurs in the "nostalgic trade" -by establishing businesses that import tortillas, typical drinks, and other products-, and participate in projects of philanthropy, capital investment, and knowledge transfer, he explained.
The caravans of Central American migrants to the United States do not surprise him because they
are a pattern "linked to the global recession of 2009
and coincides with the deterioration of economic conditions in the region since then," he observed.
Organized crime was strengthened after 2009 precisely because of the economic crisis, and it became another factor for the exodus of migrants from Central America "on an unprecedented scale," added Orozco, included in the WorldRemit agency's list of influential Latinos.
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Eternal problem of underdevelopment
People emigrate because they earn no more than $ 400 a month, they work in the informal economy, they don't see a promising future, or they risk being victims of assault and other common crimes, he said.
["See, hear, shut up." Absent children and teachers killed by "the boys" for a bad grade or an inappropriate comment]
Central America has dragged the cycle of underdevelopment and illegal migration for decades due, according to Orozco, to leadership problems, a political “ecosystem” that evades risks to transform the labor market, and obstacles to access ideas for innovation.
The region has depended, perhaps too much, on a growth model that relies on agriculture, free trade zones, and tourism, which ultimately
"do not generate wealth and do not require a large labor force,
" emphasized Orozco, warning of that illegal emigration from Central America will continue as long as the demand for foreign labor in the US lasts.
For Orozco, the challenge is to create a “regional perspective” for economic development, in which the United States accepts the entry of immigrants with low skills, in exchange for Central American governments to improve the fight against deep inequality in the region.
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Through his research, Orozco has influenced the adoption of international policies and business initiatives so that
remittances are a tool for the empowerment
of families and entire communities.
Orozco is also the face behind a strategy to promote savings among immigrants and their integration into the formal banking system that, according to the Platinum Network, has reached more than half a million people in more than 15 countries.
The turbulence of the Cold War
Orozco describes himself as a “product of the Cold War” because he was born and raised in Nicaragua, whose Sandinista revolution in the 1970s caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people to the United States and other Central American countries.
Like other young people of the time, Orozco flirted with Sandinismo and ideas of the Latin American left for the violence and repression of Somoza, and remembered the long hours listening to the then clandestine Radio Sandino.
During his adolescence in Nicaragua, the researcher Manuel Orozco flirted with the ideas of Sandinismo.
In this 1980 photo, Orozco, far right, appears with his friends Photo courtesy of Manuel Orozco
Those years led him to see closely the problems of inequality and social dispersion, at the same time that he also managed to publish several of his poems in a national newspaper, which only paid for his interest in politics.
At age 17, after receiving death threats, he went to live in Costa Rica, where he stayed between 1983 and 1988, obtained a degree in international relations, and continued to cultivate his interest in democratic processes in the region.
Orozco will turn 55 tomorrow, Friday, and from the drawer of bittersweet memories he shows us blurred photos of his adolescence in Nicaragua, some in color and others in black and white.
The social researcher, Manuel Orozco, took refuge in Costa Rica in 1983 after receiving death threats in his native Nicaragua.
In this photo, he appears with some of his relatives Photo courtesy of Manuel Orozco / Noticias Telemundo
He also shares a nostalgic poem he wrote in April 2018, on the occasion of the political repression in Nicaragua: "With your tears you are cultivating the future, with your sweat you continue to take care of what is yours," he says.
"Every Nica is a poet," Orozco joked, not forgetting that Nicaragua gave the world a universal poet, Rubén Darío.
Orozco immigrated to the United States in 1988, where he earned a master's degree in Public Administration and Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin, and
began the career that would define his life.
He published his first book on remittances in 1995, and since then he has also studied the international dimension of democracy, particularly the situation in Nicaragua.
Thus, Orozco has given testimony before the Congress and the General Assembly of the United Nations, and has published numerous reports on the migratory phenomenon and remittances.
The World Bank adopted its methodology on the transaction costs of remittances at the beginning of the century.
Orozco worked for 20 years at the Inter-American Dialogue, an influential center for political studies, also in Washington.
Although he did not fulfill his childhood dream of being an electronics engineer, his work has allowed him to work in more than a hundred countries on all continents on development and financial advisory issues.
Life has not brought her luck in love - it is the price she has paid for her work, she assured - but her greatest pride is her son and her twins, both dancers and poets: Sarah aspires to a career as a scientist, and Gabriela he has already published several poems.
Like father Like Son.